Hikari 4: Whisper
by Riku no kage
Summary: OH GOD THE SUE-NESS. RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIVES! Also, don't read unless you want to see just how drastically writing styles can change in a decade. Yes, you read correctly, a decade. God I feel old. D:
1. Unhappy Reunions

A/N: Here we go, fic number... uh... what're we on again?

Teek: Other than crack?

Me: I meant what number fic is this for the Hikari series?

Teek: I dunno. Four?

Me: That sounds about right... ((counts on fingers)) Yup, four! Anyway, readers, this fic is seen entirely (or as close to it as I can get) from Riku's POV, so please, enjoy the wonderful Riku-ness and please let me know if I get him _too_ OOC, will you? Admittedly, he gets that way alot around Mizu, but let me know if it gets out of hand, okay? In other words, read and review, please, and thankies for reading this!

* * *

Riku watched as Sora and two other characters sauntered out of an alleyway into the third district. Sora still had a self-assured swagger to his steps that told Riku the recent events hadn't changed him much. Riku silently debated with himself as to whether or not he wanted to go out and great Sora, or if he wanted to just let the past go and move on with his new life. Unfortunately, fate took that option away from him.

Before Sora could even pull out his sword, Riku jumped in and destroyed the Heartless with one swift blow. Then, deciding it was too late to change his mind now, Riku turned around and grinned at his friend.

"There you are," he said jovially. "What's going on?"

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, leaping forward and stretching out Riku's cheeks.

"Hey, hey, cut it out," Riku said, slapping Sora's hands away. Sora's usual childish grin widened.

"I'm not dreaming this time, right?" the boy asked.

"I hope not," Riku replied, cheeks still sore. "Took forever to find you."

"Riku! Wait a second, where's Kairi?"

"Isn't she with you? Well, don't worry. I'm sure she made it off the island, too. We're finally free. Hey, she might even be looking for us now. We'll all be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this-- " 

Without any warning, Sora leapt forward, right past Riku, and swung his own sword on the Heartless that had appeared without Riku's noticing. Sora slung his sword over his shoulder, returning Riku's earlier grin.

"Leave it to who?" the boy asked.

"Sora, what did you--?" Riku started to ask, but was cut off by another voice he had missed.

"Nice hit, shrimp!" Kage called from one of the upper balconies. She swung herself over the ledge and ran up to Sora, clapping him on the back. "You jus' keep gettin' better with that thing, huh?"

"Hey, I'm pretty good with a sword!" Sora protested. "I held out against Cloud for a while, didn't I?"

"Don't get your britches in a bunch, I never said you _weren't_ any good!" With about as much warning as Sora had given when he attacked the Heartless, Kage spun around, grabbed Riku by the head, and pulled him into a very heated kiss. "But _you _could still run circles around 'im!"

"Whatever I did," Riku said, stunned but still able to speak, "I should do it more often!" Mizu laughed out loud, kissed him again, only with less passion, and let him go.

"Popping up out of nowhere after I've been worried sick about you?" Kage said with a grin. "Try it an' I'll knee you in the groin."

Every male within hearing distance flinched and instinctively moved to cover their privates, knowing full well that it wasn't an empty threat.

"Okay, then I won't," Riku said, having seen her do just that to Wakka on more than one occasion. "So what's been going on with you guys?"

"Duck hunt," Kage said, eyeing the duck Sora was with maliciously. Then she turned a grin on Riku and finished with "And you and Kairi're the ducks."

"If you threaten me one more time--" the duck said, holding up a staff.

"Can it, turkey."

"Will you two knock it off?" Sora snapped. "It wouldn't kill you two to get along for once, you know!"

"I wouldn't take that bet," Kage growled under her breath. Sora just snorted and turned back to Riku.

"I've been looking for you and Kairi, too," the younger boy said, then looked at the duck and the other character, "with their help."

"Who are they?" Riku asked. The duck cleared his throat and started to introduce himself, but Sora cut him off when he noticed Kage's glare.

"We visited so many places and worlds, looking for you," Sora said hastily before Kage could snap again.

"Really?" Riku asked, genuinely impressed. "Well, what do you know? I never would have guessed."

"Oh, and guess what?" Sora's other friend said, putting his hands on Sora's shoulders like and affectionate parent. "Sora's the Keyblade master. Who would've thought it?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora demanded. Riku leaned over and snatched the Keyblade while Sora was distracted, but didn't miss the speculative glint in Kage's eye. He decided to ignore it for the time being, however, and concentrated on annoying the crap out of Sora.

"So this is called a Keyblade?" he asked. Sora then noticed that he didn't have it anymore.

"Huh? Hey, give it back!"

Riku took a step backwards and tossed the Keyblade to the boy, calling out "Catch!" Amazingly enough, Sora caught it. That more than anything convinced Riku that Sora had definitelly changed since the last time they'd seen each other.

"Okay," Sora said when the Keyblade was firmly back in his possession, "so, you're coming with us, right? We've got this awesom rocket. Wait 'til you see it!"

"No, he can't come," the duck immediatelly snapped. Kage opened her mouth angrily, but Sora cut her off before she could get anything out.

"What?" he demanded, rounding on the duck with as much fury as Kage would have probably demonstrated.

"Forget it!"

"Oh, come on! He's my friend!"

"I don't care!"

Riku split before any of them noticed, putting as much distance between himself and Sora as he could as quickly as he could. However, he did manage to hear the rest of the conversation.

"He's gone," Sora's other friend said, sounding surpised.

"Riku?" Sora called. Riku peeked around a corner to see what was happening, and it turned out that Sora had turned around and cast an infuriated scowl at the duck. "Nice going." Then, Sora turned to look at Kage, who was staring straight at Riku. "Mizu, did you see where he went?"

"Huh?" Kage asked, turning to look at Sora. "Oh, uh, no, I didn't."

"Then what were ya lookin' at?" Sora's other friend asked. (A/N: Seeing as Riku doesn't know their names at this point, I'm not going to call Goofy and Donald by their names. Until Riku learns otherwise or I get sick of vague references, Donald is going to be refered to as "the duck" and Goofy as "Sora's other friend" or "the other character.") Kage shrugged and looked right at Riku again.

"Nothin'," she said absently, then winked at Riku. "Just a shadow, I guess." Riku took the hint and started to leave again, but he still managed to catch the rest of what they had to say.

"Hey, don't you have a meating with Leon to get your behind to?" Kage asked.

"Yeah, but..." Sora said, though he never elaborated on the "but."

"Don't worry," Kage said, and Riku could quite easily picture the reassuring smile on her face. "If I see Riku again, I'll tell him what happened. And Donald..."

"What?" the duck asked.

"Pull a stunt like that again, and I'll personally roast you alive."

Riku heard Kage's distinct footfalls moving away from the group and Donald's frightened gulp.

"Oh, well," Sora said. "At least he's okay. And who knows? Maybe we'll run into Kairi soon, too."


	2. Bitchy Witches

Unable to keep himself away, Riku looked through the window of the small house in the Third District, watching but unable to hear Sora's conversation with the others in there.

"You see?" said the witch standing behind Riku. "It's just as I told you. While you toiled away trying to find your dear friend, he quite simply replaced you with some new companions. Evidently, now he values them more than he does you. You're better off without that wretched boy. Now, think no more of him, and come with me. I'll help you find what you're searching for..."

"I guess," Riku sighed, turning away from the house. "It seems like you're the only one I can trust anymore, Maleficent. I just--"

"Get away from him, you _bitch_!" shouted a voice so ladden with anger that Riku didn't recognize it. He turned to see a lithe, slender figure launch herself from one of the rooftops, drawing a pair of wickedly sharp knives from two sheathes on her belt and aiming a sharp kick at Maleficen't head. Maleficent merely stepped back out of the way, sending her attacker into a barely controlled spin, which set the girl down protectively right in front of Riku, facing the witch.

"Such hatred!" Maleficent exclaimed in genuine surprise. "You harbor such dark emotions for one so young. Tell me, child, what could have invoked such intense loathing in you?"

"Cut the crap, Maleficent, you know full well the answer to that," the girl snarled. If it hadn't been for the blonde braid and unmistakable figure, Riku would never have guessed that this girl was Kage. What Kage said next came out as a barely audible snarl. "Lord knows you've done it enough."

Despite the evidence of his eyes, because of Kage's tone, Riku just had to ask a certain question.

"Kage?" was all he needed to ask. Her eyes flickered back to him for a bief moment, then snapped right back to Maleficent.

"Hey, Riku," she said. Riku sighed, glad for the confirmation. Kage and Maleficent, however, just kept glaring at each other.

"What's going on?" Riku asked.

"I'll tell ya later, Riku," Kage said. "Promise. But right now, I kind of need you to get outta here. Meet me at the Accessory Shop in five minutes, okay?"

"I'm not leaving," Riku stated flatly. "I want to know what's going on with you two."

"Riku, please, stay out of it," Kage said, still glaring daggers at Maleficent. "I don't want you to get involved in this, and I _really_ don't want you to get hurt. I'll keep Maleficent off your back while you scramble, alright?"

"No, it's not alright," Riku snapped. "I trust her, Kage!" Kage finally turned to look at him, lowering her knives to her sides and staring at him in surprise.

"You what?" she asked. Then there was a loud _crack_ as Maleficent slammed Kage in the head with her staff. Kage's knives fell to the ground with a metallic clatter, and Kage fell unconcious into Riku's arms.

"What did you do that for?" Riku demanded.

"She was wild, and unable of controlling her anger," Maleficent explained calmly. "She might have attacked you had I not intervened."

"Kage'd never hurt me," Riku said calmly, gently lowering her to the ground but keeping her head cradled against his chest. "I'm sure whatever grudge she has against you is misplaced. She has amnesia, I don't think she even realised what she was doing."

"Believe what you will," Maleficent said with an unconcerned shrug. "And do as you wish for the time being. I await your return." Maleficent disappeared into the shadows, returning through darkness to her lair.

* * *

Truth be told, Maleficent regretted her rash actions against the young girl, yet they were necessary. Riku's trust in her had been lessened, but the price of inaction was too high. Maleficent could sense the power of light flooding through that girl so inappropriatelly named Kage. It was similar to a power the witch had first sensed nine years ago when she had taken Hollow Bastion as her own, and again over a year ago. Now, however, the light was much stronger, forged and tempered into a powerful weapon. The only difference between Kage and the child from Hollow Bastion was the name. The child's name would have one day struck fear in the hearts of all who followed the paths of darkness, but Maleficent was positive that that girl was dead.

Mizu Hikari had died by Maleficent's own hand upon their last meeting.


	3. Revelations

Riku gently cradled Kage's unconcious body in his arms until she began to stir. With a groan, Kage pressed a hand to the back of her head and sat up slowly.

"Ow," she said through gritted teeth. She took her hand away from her head and looked at it, then began probing the back of her skull again. "Ugh, what happened?"

"Maleficent cracked you in the head," Riku informed her, helping her sit up.

"I shouldn't have let my guard down," Kage groaned. "Well, I don't think I have a concussion. Then again, Cloud always said I had an abnormally thick skull." She turned her deep green eyes on Riku and grinned. "You okay, Riku?"

"I'm fine," Riku assured her. "Maleficent left after you went out like a light."

"She didn't touch you? Good. Next time you see her, Riku, get as far away from her as you can."

"Why?" Riku asked. Kage looked so surprised at the question that he had to elaborate. "You're just over reacting, Kage. I think your amnesia's finally getting the better of you."

"I don't _have_ amnesia anymore, Riku," Kage said. "And my name is Mizu. The same name you gave me back home is my real name."

Riku stared at her incredulously, his eyes fixed on hers, then slowly raised his hand to gently cup her head, and pulled her in close.

"She really knocked you for a loop, huh?" he asked, checking for signs of a concussion or lump. Kage just started laughing.

"Riku," she said after she'd gotten a little of her breath back, gently grabbing hold of his wrist and taking his hand away from her head. "Riku, I'm fine, really! I got my memory back at the Olympus Coliseum. Just ask Sora, he was there!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

Riku stared at her for a moment more, then pressed a hand to her forehead, checking for a fever. Kage tried to hold it in, but she started laughing again anyway.

"Kage, look at me," Riku said sharply, grabbing Kage by the head and turning her face so they were looking into each other's eyes. "You're sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine! ... You know, your eyes are just like Sephiroth's."

"Okay, now I'm _really_ worried!" Riku exclaimed, sitting back on his heels.

"Sorry," Kage said, "it's just that this is the first time I've ever really noticed. You look so much like him I could almost swear that Sephiroth's your father."

"How did-- Where did-- Since when-- What in the world are you _talking_ about?" Riku spluttered.

"Idle speculation, that's all," Kage said with a shrug. She got to her feet and gave Riku a hand up, and he caught a glimpse of something on her wrist out of the corner of his eye. He grabbed it and turned it so the veins were facing upwards, along with a fairly fresh scar.

"What happened?" he demanded harshly, gently touching the new cut running perpenicular to the vein and parallel to a dozen others.

"Oh, that!" Kage said, and she smiled at him. "Before it gets firmly lodged in your head, I'm not suicidal. For one, I cut it the wrong way and for two, it's not long enough or deep enough to cause any damage."

"Then what happened?"

"Stop scowling, will you? It's part of a ritual I learned when I was still working the streats. It just means that Sora's my newest brother. He has a scar there, too." Riku glared at her, thinking she was lying about it, and she glared right back. "I'm serious. It's nothing to worry about, so don't." Riku glared for a second more, then sighed and let go of her wrist. She began rubbing it, and Riku saw that his fingers had left marks.

"You'd better not be lying to me," he said, but didn't apologize for hurting her, and she didn't seem to expect him to.

"Why would I do that?" Kage snapped. "And since when have I ever lied to you?" She stopped rubbing her wrist and looked at him with concern in her eyes. "Is something wrong? You've always trusted me before, so why don't you now?"

"I can't trust anyone anymore," Riku said, looking away. "Even Sora turned his back on me. He-- well, you saw what happened."

"Oh, that," Kage snorted. "Riku, Sora really wanted you to come with him, but the thing is that most Gummi Ships can only hold four people, and Donald and Goofy are trying to find their king. All I know is that they need to find him and get him back to his castle as soon as possible. Sora's helping them look, and they're helping him look for you and Kairi. I guess that since you were already here and safe, Donald didn't see a reason to fill up another space in the ship. It's not that Sora abandoned you, Riku, it's that he's trying to help save others."

"Is that what they told you?" Riku demanded.

"No, that's what I gleaned from a boat-load of eavesdropping and several years of getting the most information out of only a few clues," Kage admitted. "Seriously, Riku, Sora's been worried sick. Almost literally a few times, and that had me worried, too."

"Were you worried about me?" Riku felt compelled to ask.

"Frankly I knew I didn't have any reason to be, but I still think I got an ulcer," Kage said lightly. "I even chewed down my nails." She lost the faint trace of humor on her face and stared at him with completely somber eyes. "Riku, I couldn't sleep at night I was so scared something had happened to you. More so after I got my memory back. I kept going through that night over and over again in my head, just to reassure myself that you were alright, or as close to it as you could possibly be. And what little sleep I did get was so full of nightmares about what could have happened that I was afraid to so much as close my eyes. I've never been so scared in my entire life, not even the night Terra died. You mean the world to me, Riku, and I'm dead scared of losing you. I'm just so glad you're alright."

She stepped up close to him and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his shirt. He could feel how tense she was, and the strength that she held to him with surprised him. On impulse, he wrapped his own arms around her and held her just as fiercely, resting his cheek on the top of her head. Whether they stayed that way for a second or for a millenium, Riku didn't know, but an unfamiliar voice broke into the moment.


	4. Cloud Strife

"Mizu, let's go!"

Kage gently pulled away to look in the direction the voice had come from, her grip loosening only slightly.

"That's my brother," she said, then wiped tears from her cheeks. She turned to grin up at Riku, but something about his expression must have set off an alarm, for her smile slipped from her face. "What's wrong?"

"I remember that voice," Riku told her. "Hades hired him to kill off some guy named Herculese. Kage, I wouldn't trust this guy."

"I've known him longer than you, _koishii_," Kage said with a slight smile. "He's a mercenary, I'll admit that, and a terrorist, but so am I. Cloud was one of the first people I ever trusted completely. There's no harm in him, really. Come on, I want you to meet him."

"I've already met him," Riku said, somehow refraining from snapping at her. He gently removed her grip from his wrist and backed away a pace. "And I don't trust him."

"You barely even know him, Riku," Kage admonished, still with that slight smile.

"Mizu!" Cloud called again, closer this time.

"Give me a second, _aniki_!" Kage shouted over her shoulder at him. "Look, Riku, just let me introduce you two. If you still don't trust him, then--"

"I don't care what you two do," Riku did snap. "You can shackle yourself with a thug like him if you want, but I'm not going to."

"I was going to say 'then I'll tell him goodbye and we can go on our way,'" Kage said impatiently. "You're jumping to conclusions, Riku. I may not have seen him in nine years until just a few days ago, but I'd still rather be with you."

Riku stared at her, not quite believing what he'd heard. Despite the smile on her face, he could see that she was dead serious about this, and that confused him momentarily. It was the sincerity in her eyes that convinced him, though.

"Fine," he sighed, "I suppose I can give him a chance." Kage got this look on her face that plainly said "I win!" for only a second before it was gone, and she once again grabbed his hand.

"Then c'mon," she laughed, tugging him along. She ran down the stairs to the lower floor and then right up behind the man, who turned to look at her.

"I was worried for a second," Cloud said. "Who's your friend? Riku?"

"Sorry, and yes, this is Riku," Kage said, then turned to look Riku straight in the eye. "Riku, this is my older brother, Cloud Strife. Cloud, this is my _koishii_, Riku."

"That's quite a statement, munchkin," Cloud said, almost--but not quite--laughing. He then held out his hand to Riku. "I think I remember seeing you with Maleficent, but Mizu seems to trust you, so I guess I can give you a chance."

"Funny," Riku said, clasping Cloud's hand, "I was about to say basically the same thing. Only you were with Hades, not Maleficent."

"Don't remind me," Cloud groaned. "I still owe that bastard for what he did."

"We'll get him later, _aniki_," Kage said confidently. "Riku, you sure you don't want to go with him?" Cloud raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Riku, however, ran a hand through his hair and sighed, then locked eyes with Cloud.

"I guess I can stick with you guys," he said, "for a while, anyway." Kage stood on tip-toe and kissed him on the cheek. Riku did his best not to blush, but he still turned a little pink.

"Huzzah!" was Kage's only verbal reaction to Riku's acceptance, eliciting a slight chuckle from Cloud.

"Well," Cloud said, "I'm ready to go whenever you two are, so if either of you have any business to finish up, I'll be waiting outside the Item Shop." With that, he left, headed towards the First District.

"I told you he wasn't so bad," Kage said as soon as he was out of earshot.

"I'm not so sure about that," Riku said, "but I guess I'll go with you two anyway."

"If you don't want to, I understand," Kage insisted. "He already knows that I'm going with you no matter what. Unless you don't want me with you."

"It's not that. It's... I'm sorry, but I just don't trust him."

"Most people don't at first," Kage said patiently. "Just give him a little time, and you'll see why I trusted him right off the bat. Then again, you would too if the first thing he did when you met was save your life..."

"That'd definitely do the trick," Riku admitted. "I'll try to trust him, Kage. I promise I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything."

"That's okay, I understand. And it's all I needed to hear. Now, is there anything you need to do here? Because I've already finished my business."

"No, I'm done," Riku said. "I didn't have anything I needed to do here anyway."

"Okay, then shall we?"

"Heh. Yeah, sure."


	5. Blast Off!

Riku somehow managed to keep his jaw from dropping when he saw the Gummi Ship. He'd seen some impressive things at Maleficent's castle, but nothing like the Gummis. Kage and Cloud took his amazement stoically, however, both doing their best not to laugh at him.

"Wait 'til you see outer space," Kage whispered in Riku's ear. He turned to look at her, and saw her grinning, but not in a condescending way. "That's gonna really take your breath away."

"Is it me," Cloud asked over his shoulder, "or has your accent improved?"

"Wouldja rather I talked like a street-rat?" Kage retorted in what must have been the accent Cloud was talking about. "'Cuz I could, y'know. Frankly, I don't have a prollem with neither'n."

"I like it better when I can understand you," Cloud said, a hint of a chuckle in his voice. "Loose the accent, kid." Kage's only response was a chuckle, and she started climbing into the cockpit right behind Cloud.

"Hey, Kage?" Riku called up to her. She paused with one leg over the edge and turned to look at him.

"You can call me Mizu if you want," she said. "What's up?"

"Where are we headed?" Riku asked. "I already know a few of the worlds Kairi isn't on."

"Yeah, we've narrowed it down a bit, too," Mizu admitted. "And Sora's filled us in on a few more, so we're probably going somewhere uncharted. I know that's not much help since most of space is uncharted, but that's all the info I can give you."

"It's alright, I was just curious."

"Obviously, or you wouldn't have asked. C'mon, I gotta show you around this baby before we take off." Mizu climbed the rest of the way into the ship, and Riku followed up after her. He was completely unsurprised to find her waiting for him when he dropped to the ship's floor.

"It's just the nickel tour," Kage admitted, "but you kind of need to know some of this anyway, just in case."

"Just in case what?" Riku asked, all of a sudden slightly nervous.

"Heartless attack, asteroid belt, debris," Mizu said, calmly ticking them off on her fingers. "Nothing usually happens, and this ship has pretty good shields and guns, so we should be fine, but there's always the 'just in case' factor. Here, follow me." She turned and started walking down a corridor to the rear of the ship.

"This is the engine room. The only reason we really have for coming back here is if there's trouble with one of the engines, which isn't likely because Cid built this ship, but sometimes the Heartless get lucky. Over here," Mizu went back up the hall a little ways and indicated a tightly air-locked door that she opened for Riku to see inside of, "we have the cargo bay, which we primarily use for storing supplies we might need on the different worlds, and a lot of extra potions and elixers, obviously. Oh, and spare weapons and accessories. I think Cloud also keeps some of his extra Materia back here." She closed the door and walked further back up the corridor, and opened yet another door.

"These four doors up here are where we'll be sleeping. This ship is a completely different model than Sora's, and is fully equiped with an autopilot so that everyone can get plenty of sleep. This one's your room, I'm just across from you, and Cloud's right next to you. If we're the ones who find Kairi, she'll get the room next to me. They're all furnished and fit to live in for quite a while, even permanently if we have to. And up here," she moved to a set of double-hinged doors and pushed one in, "we have the kitchen and dining area. Be warned, my cooking sucks. There're food stores in here along with in the storage area, and quite a few spices, seasonings, yadda, yadda, yadda, so there's at least a little variety in the gruel around here. If you're wondering, bathrooms are in the bedrooms, complete with toilet, tub, and sink. And last but not least, the cockpit, where we'll probably be spending most of our time."

Kage led Riku to the end of the corridor and into the cockpit, which was mostly taken up by four chairs around the perimiter of the room. Three entire sides of the room were solid window, except for a few feet at the bottom that were taken up by the ship's computer and navigation system, radar, and a whole bunch of other stuff that Riku couldn't understand.

"It's a little hard to understand the first time around," Mizu admitted, "but you'll get used to it quickly. All the controls are pretty basic, and labeled, thankfully. It'll take us a bit to find a job for you, so for now just pick a seat and watch the show. How're things, _aniki_?"

"All systems green," Cloud said, still fiddling with some of the gadgets. "Just let me finish putting in the coordinates Cid gave us and we're good to go."

"Groovy," Mizu said absently, sitting in front of the radar and fixing a set of headphones over her ears.

"That was new," Cloud mumbled. "Riku, you might want to sit, I'm almost done."

"Take-off's kind of bumpy, and it could knock you flat if you're not strapped in," Mizu said, now fastening several buckles over her lap and chest. Riku sat in the next seat down and strapped himself in as well.

"Ready, kids?" Cloud asked.

"I am," Mizu announced, raising her hand. Riku just nodded.

"Keep an eye out the window, Riku," Cloud advised. "And hold on tight." Riku noticed that Mizu was leaning back in her seat, as was Cloud, and had the arms of her chair in a tight grip. Cloud punched one of the buttons, gripped his own armrests, and then the ship took off.

Riku was rattled around so much he thought his teeth were going to fall out. When the ride finally smoothed out, though, he completely forgot about the momentary discomfort and gaped.

"What is this?" he breathed, staring wide-eyed out the window.

"This," Mizu announced grandly, "is the universe. The time and space between worlds. And totally awesome."

"I'll say," Riku said absently, completely oblivious to Mizu and Cloud's exchange of knowing looks. Mizu got unbuckled and drifted over to Riku.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she asked rhetorically. "This darkness is so vast, and so deep, but there are always the stars to break it up. Always at least one tiny spark of light, one small flame of hope, to keep you going when you think it's all for nothing. I've often taken comfort in just looking at the stars, and the hope they represent. This is just one more example, perhaps even the ultimate example, of how you can always find a little bit of light in an overwhelming tide of darkness." Riku turned his head to look at her, and saw that she was just as entranced by the scenery as he was.

"You should be a poet," he suggested lightly, and Cloud snorted a laugh.

"Are you kidding?" Mizu asked, smiling at Riku. "That's about as silver as my tongue gets, and it was still a little tarnished."

"You're eloquent and you know it, Mi-chan," Cloud admonished.

"Shut up, Cloud," Mizu said, sticking her tongue out at him. All three laughed. Mizu went back to her seat and perched on the edge, fitting the headphones over her ears again.

"So are you two really brother and sister?" Riku asked.

"No, we're not," Cloud admitted with a chuckle. "I know we may act like it, but I'm old enough to be Mizu's father."

"Cloud was the second one I swore with," Mizu said, holding up her scarred wrist. "The first was a very old friend of mine, Nathan, who taught me the ritual. He was murdered the day I met Cloud, along with the rest of my gang. That was almost ten years ago. Hm. I'm proud to say I haven't broken my promise to the Boss since I swore it."

"Good," Cloud said. "Don't ever break that promise, either, unless you absolutely have to."

"I can't think of any situation where I would need to," Mizu admitted. "Running into you that day was one of the best strokes of luck I've had in my entire life." Mizu chuckled at whatever memory was playing through her head. "Even if you did catch me trying to lift from you."

"I'm glad you broke that habit so quickly," Cloud said. "Little theif, you were really lucky no one had caught you before I did."

"You were a theif?" Riku asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yeah," Mizu admitted proudly, "I was one of the best pick-pocketers in all of Midgar. Between the two of us, Tommy and I could have robbed the city blind in a day if we wanted to, and I'd have gotten most of the loot."

"And she isn't bragging, either," Cloud said. "She managed to nip something from the Boss before she was even admitted into the gang. And she's still wearing it today."

"I tried to give it back," Mizu protested, lightly touching the crowned heart pendant she wore. "But Terra told me to keep it as a mark of my new 'prenticeship. I was going to be the next Boss, but on the day I ran into Cloud, Shinra found out hide-out and blew it to bits. Terra was the only one caught in the blast who lived, but it was only long enough for her to make me swear to keep my heart shining as bright as I could. 'Prentice to teacher and friend to friend, and I've kept that promise ever since, even through my amnesia."

"I don't want to see the day you do break that promise," Cloud said. "And with any luck, that day won't come. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't."

"You and me both, Cloud," Mizu said, holding the pendant in her fingers. "You and me both."


	6. A Young Buck

A/N: Hi, me again, sorry for not updating in a century or two. Or ten... I don't really like this chapter, it's just kind of there as filler and we got to get Riku OOC, purely for the fun of it. Besides, it's kind of cute, so yeah... Anyway, read and review please, I really really really want to hear your opinions on this fic! I honestly think it's one of my best. And tell me if there are any typos, I want to get those fixed ASAP!

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The ship's landing was almost as rough as the take off, but Riku still completely enjoyed every minute of the flight. Cloud had touched down the ship on the edge of a forest since that was the clearest patch of ground near the world's only settlement. The world didn't have it's own Gummi port, so they were forced to improvise. Kage assured Riku that landing in ports was a lot smoother than landing on open ground.

Riku kept an eye on Kage and Cloud since both were more familiar with what to do and how to act on other worlds than he was, and he saw that Kage kept one hand on her knives and her eyes kept darting about, as though she was searching for something.

"I hate being out in the open like this," she said, her eyes still seaking a threat that wasn't there. "I feel like I'm gonna get shot in the back at any minute. Where's the town, _aniki_? I wanna get there as soon as possible."

"Just a couple miles in from here," Cloud said. "If it was just you and me, I'd say it'd take us a couple hours to get there. But since Riku's with us, I'd guess we won't get there until nightfall."

"Let's get started then," Kage said, starting in to the trees. "C'mon, Riku. Part of the delay's gonna be me teaching you some basic survival skills. First off, tracking."

"I can track just fine," Riku protested.

"In the woods?" Kage asked, giving him an odd look. "I'm sure you were fine on the islands, but frankly, this isn't the tropics and there are a ton of completely different animals here than there were back home. It's a completely different world out here, Riku, no pun intended, and you gotta know this stuff or it'll take us ages to find Kairi."

"Preach it, midget," Cloud said, walking right past her and into the trees. "I'll mark the path for you, so all you have to do is follow. I'll take a break in about an hour. If you two don't catch up by noon, I'll go on ahead. Scream if you need me."

"Gotcha," Kage said with a nod. "So, Riku, shall we start?"

"You know more about this than I do," Riku admitted. "Do I really have a choice?"

"Actually, yes, you do have a choice," Kage informed him. "Either I can teach you and try to make it as easy as possible for you to learn, or I can just traipse right ahead into the forest, catch up with Cloud in about five minutes, and leave you to figure out the hard way what the heck I did. Unless you'd rather stay with the ship?"

"No, I wouldn't rather stay with the ship," Riku snapped, then sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Sorry. It's just I feel kind of useless right now."

"In all honesty, you are kind of useless right now," Kage said matter-of-factly. "The keyword here is 'kind of.' Okay, so that was two words. The point is, I know you can learn what to do and how to do it really quickly with the right teacher, and I also know that if it comes to a scuffle, I'll more than likely need you at my back. The Heartless tend to travel in swarms and I can't hold them off on my own. It's not that I'm tryin' to be harsh or scare you away or anything, it's that you need to know this and you need to know it _now_ because Kairi may not have enough time for me to go into extreme detail on this stuff, or for you to take your time learning it."

"How do you know how much time Kairi has?" Riku asked, still slightly resentful of the fact that he was basically worthless.

"I don't, but I've always been taught to assume the worst," Kage admitted. "In this case, we might even already be out of time, but we're gonna keep looking anyway. Don't ask why, it's just a gut feeling of mine. So, shall we start, or do you wanna sit here and argue about it while Cloud gets further and further away?"

"Might as well," Riku said. "I don't want to be a hindrance, though."

"Give me about half an hour," Kage said. "Then you'll be about as much hindrance as a horse." She led Riku down the path that Cloud had marked, not even bothering to elaborate on her last odd statement, and all the while pointing out and explaining the basics of tracking in a forest, then moving on to specifics, particularly whenever they ran across tracks that weren't Cloud's. In the half hour that Kage promised, Riku did learn quite a bit about tracking, even learning how to move fairly silently through the trees. Still, compared to Kage, he was a blundering idiot. She slipped from spot to spot, not really walking but more like prowling, without disturbing so much as a leaf.

"How do you do it?" Riku asked after about an hour. Kage stopped and looked back at him with a questioning look on her face. "How do you get through all this stuff withoug touching any of it?"

Kage turned back around and walked towards him, and he watched her carefully. He couldn't see any difference in the way she walked from when she was walking down a streat or on the beach, yet she never made a noise.

"Practice," she whispered, almost too softly for Riku to hear. Riku opened his mouth to ask why she was whispering, but she put a finger to his lips and made a soft shushing noise, then pointed at something over Riku's shoulder. "Turn around very slowly, and don't make any sudden moves."

Riku did exactly that, moving a lot more slowly than was probably necessary, then did his best not to gasp out loud at what he saw. It was a faun and his mother, walking just as quietly as Mizu through their forest. Further back, keeping a careful eye on the intruders to his domain, was a young buck, with only four prongs on his antlers. He stared at the humans curiously, but wasn't frightened by them, and since they weren't making any moves to hurt his doe or faun, he ignored them, and followed his family, watching out for predators. When they were out of sight, Riku turned back around to find Mizu staring after them with a slight smile on her face.

"Something I was told a couple years ago," Kage said, still enraptured by the deer, "oh, three or four years I guess, is that if you truly want to walk through the forest, you must first accept it as it's own entity. Respect every plant, every twig, as though they each have a heart and soul of their own, because to one who truly knows the forest, they do. Accept the forest not as an obstacle, but as an extension of your own life, and you can move through it as easily as a deer, as silently as an owl, and as swiftly as a wolf. And so that's what I did. I accepted that the forest was a part of myself, and since then, I've been able to walk through it just like the old man had said. I even pet a deer once, I was that in tune with the trees and the plants and the animals. That's really all you have to do. The forest isn't fighting you, Riku, it isn't trying to stop you from finding Kairi. It's protecting creatures like that doe and her faun, and the buck, and thousands of other creatures that we could accidentally hurt by disregarding the forest. That's why I've been showing you how to track. So you know what animals have been through where, and so you know exactly how much life the forest protects. I've been trying to show you respect for the forest as a whole and what it symbolizes so that we can all get through this unharmed. Now, are you ready to move on, or do you want to stop and rest a while?"

"Let's move on," Riku suggested. Seeing those deer really hit Riku with the sincerity of what Mizu was saying, and it also struck a chord somewhere deep within him. To some extent, he saw himself in that young buck, and he thought he knew what Mizu was trying to get at with her little speach, so he tried to do what she had said, he tried to accept the forest as a part of himself, and he found that he was moving through the trees and underbrush just as silently and fluidly as that buck was. He never even noticed Mizu's approving and proud smile. Within an hour, they caught up to Cloud.

"That didn't take as long as I thought it would," Cloud said, sounding slightly surprised when they showed up. "Faster learner than we both thought?"

"Faster than you thought, about as fast as I thought, and we saw some deer," Mizu said, snatching up a roll and slice of cheese from what Cloud had laid out. "Frankly, if he was faster than I thought he was, I'd seriously wonder about whether or not he's really human."

"How fast did you think he was?" Cloud asked. Mizu took a huge bite of the bread and cheese and refused to answer until she had started on her third.

"Compared to him," she said, picking off a part of the cheese, "I'd say Sephiroth was pretty damn slow."

Cloud let out a low whistle and glanced in amazement at Riku. Under normal circumstances, Riku would have snapped at them to stop talking over his head like that, but he was just as hungry as Mizu and flat-out refused to talk with his mouth full.

"You identified with the buck, didn't you?" Mizu asked right when Riku swallowed. He stared at her incredulously and voiced the only thought that came to his head.

"How did you know?" he blurted. Mizu smiled.

"Because you and the buck have a lot in common," she said. "You're both young, trying to prove that you're the best you can be, and you both have something to protect. You're both highly independent and very well aware of your own strength and masculinity, and neither of you will risk your neck unless you percieve an inevitable danger."

"When you accepted the forest," Riku asked, carefully selecting his words, "what did you identify with?"

"Right after I first met the man who gave me the advice he had me watch when a mother wolf took down a couple of rabbits in the winter. She didn't eat them right away, but she brought them to her den, where her pups were to stay warm and safe. But also in that den was another nursing mother, and the hunter was providing for both her and herself. While the one was out hunting, the other allowed pups from both litters to nurse. I identified with the hunter. Like her, I was and still am willing to brave anything and everything for what I feel I need to protect, no matter what, like she felt the need to provide for the nursing mother. I can't really describe what happened, but at one point, the hunter looked straight into my eyes and my only thought was 'She's just like me.' Since then, every time I step into a forest, I think of that wolf, and how exactly alike we were, and because of that, I accept again that the forest is a part of me, and I am a part of it. It is protection, comfort, nourishment, and, to a small extent when I am identifying with the wolf again, it's almost home."

"Almost?" Riku had to ask. Mizu ran her hand through her hair in a gesture almost exactly like Cloud does, staring off into the trees.

"I used to think that wherever I was at the time was home," Mizu admitted. "It didn't matter, because I knew in my heart that I would be leaving it soon anyway. But when I arrived at the Destiny Islands, with no recollection of my past, I began to think of that as 'home.' But pretty soon after we were separated, everytime I thought of you, I got homesick. There's that saying, 'home is where the heart is,' and I--" Mizu stopped in mid sentence, blushed, and looked away.

"I'll give you two some privacy," Cloud said, standing up and walking off. When his footsteps had faded, Mizu still hadn't looked at Riku. A few minutes later, though, she finally spoke.

"I'm only home when I'm with you," she said softly, almost too soft for Riku to hear, like when she had pointed out the three deer in the woods. "I don't know when you took my heart, but I... You're the only one with any claim to it anymore, Riku."

Riku set down the roll he was eating, sighed, and leaned his head back to look at the forest's canopy, considering her words and his own feelings.

"I guess," he said after a moment, "a heart for a heart is a fair trade. I have no idea when you took mine either, but I'm glad that you did."

"All this time," Mizu said, staring at him in open astonishment, "I thought you were in love with Kairi." Riku laughed.

"I did, too," he admitted, "but I'm not. Heck, before you came, I probably was, but then you fell into my life and... And everything was right about it. More so when I'm with you. When I thanked Kairi back on the islands, I guess in my heart I was really thanking you. The words just sounded so hollow when I said them, you know? Like they were a lie. She really was the one who got me thinking about other worlds and what all was out here, but you were the one who confirmed everything for me and set my plans in motion. Most of the time while we were building the raft, all I could think about was spending time with you, and what we might see together. I wanted to be the one to find your memories for you, just so I could see you smile when they came back."

"I hope you're not angry that I found them on my own?" Kage asked.

"How could I be?" Riku countered. "You're wholly yourself for the first time since I've met you. You have your identity back. Although, to me, you'll always be that girl, who even though she couldn't remember anything about herself, never lost her willingness to go on, or her ability to laugh or smile. You'll always be my Kage, Mizu. Always."

"That's just it, isn't it?" she said, with the half-smile that had first captured his heart. "'Your' Kage. Never anyone else's. Because I let you have my heart, and you let me have yours, we will always be each other's, won't we?"

"I hope so," Riku said, returning her half-smile with a whole one of his own. Kage reached down her shirt and pulled out a seashell on a leather thong that Riku had given her as a welcoming present one night on the islands. She stared at it for a moment, her slight smile still on her face.

"You know," she said after a moment, "after I was told the legend of the poupu fruit, I used to imagine the two of us sharing it."

"Maybe in our hearts we did," Riku suggested. "And maybe that's all that the magic really needed."

"Heh, I guess you're right. I just hope that the magic never wears off."

"The legend says that the two who share the poupu remain a part of each other's lives forever," Riku pointed out. "I'm guessing that means that the magic never does wear off."

"That sounds logical."

Cloud came back into the clearing then, looked at the pair of them, sighed, and shook his head.

"This is not the scene I expected to see when I came back," he said, though Riku had a hard time telling if he was kidding or not.

"_Aniki_," Mizu scolded, "neither of us are the kind of kids to just jump each other at the first opportunity!"

"I was kidding, munchkin," Cloud said, smiling slightly at her. "Anyway, if you two are done, let's get moving."

"Sure," Mizu said, stuffing the rest of her bread into her mouth and standing up. "Ready, Riku? I'm pretty sure you can keep up with us now."

"Well, if you're so confident," Riku said, getting to his feet, too, "might as well, huh?"

"Bingo," Mizu said with a laugh. "Now come on, we might be able to find some clues about Kairi in town."


	7. Threats

A/N: Another update and not waiting three years for it! Yay! Oh, there's an OC that comes in this chapter, named Serenity. She's not mine, blame my friend Kaegoe. And I hope I got her personality down about right... Anyway, R&R plz!

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"I see," Mizu said, counting out a few coins and handing them over to the man behind the counter.

"I'm really sorry, Miss," the old man said, looking like he meant it. "I've never heard of this 'Kairi' you're talking about."

"That's alright," Mizu replied, slipping the bottles she had just purchased into a pouch on her weapon's belt. "I didn't really expect much information. Thank you very much, sir."

"Nothing?" Cloud asked when she came back over to their table at the inn even though he and Riku had heard the entire exchange.

"Again," she said with a sigh, plopping down on the bench next to Riku.

"Well, we've only been at it for an hour," Riku pointed out, sliding a glass of wine over to Mizu, who thanked him with a smile and took a sip.

"Oh, good, it's been watered," she said after rolling it around on her tongue for a moment before swallowing. "The last thing I need durring an interrogation is to get drunk on wine."

"I still say you're too young for it," Cloud said, reopening a previous arguement with her.

"I still say you're paranoid," Mizu countered, taking another dainty sip. "Stop worrying, I know better than to guzzle it all down in one sitting. Besides, this wine's really weak in the first place."

Riku just watched the banter and sipped his cider, which he knew had no alcohol in it. He'd been warned away from the stuff too many times to try some with something as important as Kairi's life at stake. Alcohol slowed reaction time and deadened the senses, and Riku knew he needed to be at his sharpest while they were still looking.

"Anyway," Mizu said loudly, cutting Cloud off in mid-argument, "we need a better method for this. Randomly asking merchants isn't going to get us very far. Besides, I doubt anyone here will know where Kairi is. Not a backwater town like this. We're the most excitement these people have seen in years."

"You have a point," Cloud said, surreptitiously looking around. "You know, I keep getting this feeling that I know this place. Like I was here befo--"

"Big brother!" shouted a young girl with waist-length blonde hair and deep blue eyes, glomping Cloud around the neck and earning a surprised "Hoi!" as the breath was knocked out of him. Mizu snorted in an attempt to hold back her laugh, and Riku just stared in surprise.

"Serenity!" Cloud exclaimed as soon as he had his breath back. "What're you doing here?"

"You ass, you _left _me here!" Serenity countered.

"Oh yeah, I guess I did," Cloud said with an apologetic smile.

"You are such an insensitive asshole," Serenity remarked, plopping down in the seat next to him. Mizu snorted again, and by now had her fist shoved down her throat to stiffle her laughter. "And who are you, giggles?"

"Sorry," Mizu said, taking a breath and wiping a tear from her eye. "I'm Mizu Hikari, Cloud's, hmm... first sister? Unless he lied to me and isn't an only child?"

"She's as much my sister as you are, Mizu," Cloud said. "But _I_ never got her to swear an oath with me."

"You never asked, ass-wipe," Serenity countered. "I can't swear anything if you don't ask me to!" Mizu went into a spate of giggles again. "You drunk?"

"Caught off-guard," Mizu replied. "Sorry, I just never expected to meet someone like you!"

"Should I be insulted?"

"No, no, no," Mizu assured her. "I kind of meant that I didn't expect to meet someone so much like me. The first thing I ever said to Cloud was 'leggo o' me, yeh spikey-haired jerk!'"

"Lay off," Cloud muttered, hoping no one heard it.

"Not a chance," Mizu and Serenity said at the same time. Riku settled for watching, but Serenity wasn't about to keep him out of the conversation.

"And who're you?" she asked, eying Riku up and down.

"Riku," he replied calmly, and didn't say anything more. Serenity raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't push the subject.

"So, Spike, what finally brought you back?" she said to Cloud instead.

"I'm looking for someone," he replied.

"Still?"

"No, _her_ I've already found. She's been laughing up a storm over there. I'm helping Mizu and Riku look for a friend of theirs."

"You should be a bounty hunter, not a mercenary," Serenity said.

"There's not really much difference," Mizu pointed out, taking out a small throwing knife and cleaning her nails with it.

"You a merc, too?"

"Former," Mizu replied with a grin. "I've settled down a bit in the past year."

"You look pretty young for retirement," Serenity said, eying Mizu now. "You're not just pulling my leg, are you?"

"I joined AVALANCHE when I was six," Mizu said. "Just ask Cloud, he protested loudly." Serenity turned a questioning gaze to him, and he sighed.

"Yes, she joined AVALANCHE," he confirmed. "But she wasn't six, she was five."

"I had my birthday a week after joining," Mizu explained.

"Mizu," Riku muttered, lightly tapping her with his elbow and nodding to something he noticed in the crowd. "Company."

Mizu looked up to see what Riku had spotted, then raised her wineglass to her lips and swore.

"Shit, trouble," she said. "It's Hades." Now it was Cloud's turn to swear.

"Well, well, well," Hades said, coming over to their table and clapping Cloud on the shoulder, "if it isn't my favorite little mercenary." Cloud didn't so much as grace him with an answer, but his glare said it all. "Aw, not still sore about that little misunderstanding, are we? C'mon, it's not like that one little casualty was going to make any difference. Besides, all you had to do was kill Herculese and I'd have helped you find your little sister. One more chance?"

"I don't need your help anymore, Hades," Cloud said coolly. "I've already found her. Meet both of my sisters, Serenity and Mizu."

"Oh," Hades said, his face openly showing his disappointment. "Well, then... But you never completed your contract, so--"

"You negated it when you intervened," Cloud said, standing. "Sorry, but your contract has been terminated. Good luck beating Herculese on your own, I have bigger fish to fry. C'mon, kids, we're done here."

Mizu stood and pulled out a few coins from another pouch on her belt and left them in her empty glass, Riku downed the rest of his cider and followed Cloud, and Serenity gave Hades a menacing glare before joining the other three.

"Hold it," Hades called, and the entire group stopped and leveled an icy glare at him. "You and the girls are free to go. Riku, Maleficent's waiting for you."

"Tell her I found some more help," Riku said with a grin. "And I can make more progress with these guys. Take care, Hades." He turned with the rest and started walking away, but Hades grabbed him by the elbow.

"Maybe you didn't hear me," Hades growled. "Maleficent is waiting for you to come back." Riku yanked his arm out of Hades' grasp and scowled dangerously.

"Maybe _you_ didn't hear _me_," he snarled. "I'm going with these guys to find Kairi, and that's the end of it. I'm _not_ going back to Maleficent, got it?"

"You little twerp," Hades snarled back, grabbing Riku by the neck this time, "no one, and I mean _no one_, ditches when Maleficent says she's waiting for them. Once you join us, you're either with us or you're Heartless, it's your choice. Now I'm gonna--" He never got to finish his sentence. Mizu's dagger burried itself to the hilt in Hades' elbow, and he stared at her in stunned amazement. Mizu just grinned wickedly and twisted, causing Hades to gasp in pain and release Riku.

"Riku's with us now," Mizu said in a deadly calm voice. Then her smirk slid from her face. "Keep your filthy hands off of him. God of Death or not, I'll send you back to your Underworld in pieces if you threaten him again." She ripped the dagger out of Hades' arm, leaving a long, deep gash from his elbow to his wrist.

"You little--" Hades snarled, lunging for her, but she quickly sketched a rune in the air and held two stiffened fingers out before her, yelling "Ice2!" A spiked ball of ice errupted from Hades' chest, slicing from the inside out and wounding him greatly.

"I'll get you for this!" Hades snarled before stepping through a portal of darkness.

"What did you do?" Riku asked, gingerly rubbing the bruises on his neck.

"Second level Ice spell," Mizu replied calmly, slipping her knife back into it's sheath. "You okay?"

"It's a little sore," Riku admitted. Mizu gently slid her fingers over the bruises, inspecting them.

"He was just threatening," she observed. "His fingers were to far from anything important to do any lasting damage. We can put an ice pack on them back at the ship, but I don't think it's serious enough for a Potion or a spell."

"That's alright," Riku said. "One question, though."

"Yeah?"

"Is Serenity coming with? Because if she is, would we still have enough room on the ship for Kairi?"

"We could double up if we have to," Mizu said. "And as for Serenity coming...?"

"Only if you don't leave without me," Serenity said with a wink.

"We should probably stay here another day," Cloud said. "See if we can't get even a little bit of a hint about where Kairi is."

"Alright," Mizu said, letting her hands drop back to her sides. "But what if Hades decides to show up again?"

"I don't think he will," Cloud told her. "He's not the kind to risk his own hide if he can help it. You mangled him up pretty badly, so he should be avoiding us for a while."

"Good," Mizu sighed. "Okay, almighty leader, where do we start looking first?"

"There's no point in being subtle about this, I think," Cloud said, "so why don't you and Riku comb the east side of the market and Serenity and I will take the west? We can meet back at the inn at dusk."

"Fine by me," Mizu said, grabbing Riku's hand and wandering off.

* * *

"Still nothing!" Mizu complained, flopping down on the bed in her and Riku's room. She sighed and stared up at the ceiling. "This is giving me a headache." 

"It's only the first world, Mizu," Cloud pointed out from his spot beside the door. "And it's going to take a while, too. Tomorrow we'll have to try different tactics."

"Alright," Mizu said with a growl, scowling up at the ceiling now. "But I want more Materia for it." Cloud tossed her a handful of the gems, four green, one red, two blue, and one purple. Mizu caught them in cupped hands, sitting up before they were halfway to her. She inspected the lot of them, and turned an amazed look to Cloud. "You're giving me Bahamut?"

"You can handle that beast better than I can," Cloud said with a shrug. "Here." He tossed her two more of the red Materia, and her eyes got even wider.

"Neo and ZERO, too? Cloud, what--"

"I still have all the rest. Besides, those are offspring Materia. I still have the parents."

"Ah, so only one level, huh?" Mizu asked, looking closer at the Materia. "You got ZERO built up to it's second level, though. Well, every little bit counts..." She pulled out her knives and rearanged the materia she had on them, moving some of the jems to slots on her belt and adding the new ones.

"What's so important about this Materia stuff?" Riku asked. "Can't you just concentrate and cast the spell?"

"Materia is my native form of magic," Mizu explained. "It's the only form of magic in the world I was born on, so it's the only kind I can use. It works almost everywhere, though, so it's not like it's that big of a deal. But I have been to worlds where my Materia was replaced by knowledge of how to cast spells in that world. Magic's a very confusing subject, I don't like to talk about it unless I have about a week of free time."

"Okay," Riku conceded, knowing that she'd explain it to him eventually. "But what do you need more for? You already work just fine with the ones you have."

"I'll be going somewhere really dangerous tomorrow," Mizu said, fitting the last Materia in place. "I need all the protection I can get."

"Then I should--"

"No," Mizu stated flatly, looking Riku straight in the eye. "I have to go it alone. Don't worry, I grew up on the streets, so I know what I'm doing. I'll be back by dusk tomorrow, promise. Cloud, Serenity, I should probably get to sleep now. I wanna be as rested as possible before I head out."

"I understand," Cloud said, grabbing Serenity by the shoulder and heading out the door. "See you tomorrow."

"Good night, kids," Serenity said, shooting them a conspiratorial grin and wink.

"One more question," Riku said when they had shut the door. Mizu got up and threw the bolt home, then turned and sat back on the bed.

"Hm?" she said, laying down and pulling the covers up over her shoulders.

"Should I be worried?"

"Riku," Mizu said with a smile, "you know me better than that." She blew out the lamp and rolled over onto her side, relaxing each muscle in turn until she finally fell asleep.

Translation: Be worried sick.


	8. Kidnapped!

A/N: Sorry about the fic delay, I'm trying to get this thing updated on a schedule. XD This is obviously not working, but then again, neither was my internet since the last update, so yeah. Dawn, sorry about getting Serenity's personality wrong, but unfortunatelly, that's the way she's gonna stay. So, yeah, thanks for reading up to this point, people, and I hope you like the rest of the fic. R&R pleeeeeaaaaaaaassssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeee!

* * *

Riku counted off the number of steps it took for him to cross the room and back for the eigth time. Cloud looked up at him and sighed. 

"Stop worrying," he said as patiently as he could, "Mizu knows what she's doing. She grew up doing this kind of stuff anyway, so there's nothing to be worried about. Now stop pacing and sit down, you're giving me a headache."

"Sorry," Riku muttered, plopping down on a seat accross the table from him. "I just can't help it, though."

"She has Bahamut looking after her," Cloud reminded him. "I've never seen a tighter bond between a caster and a Summon than those two have. If she gets in to more than she can handle, Bahamut will get her out of there."

The door to the inn opened up and Serenity walked in, shaking her rain-drenched hair out of her face.

"It's pourin' out there!" she exclaimed, running her fingers through her hair now to help get the water out. "A couple of the streets have flooded over, but it's not deep enough to cause too much damage. A few of the goods in the market got wet, too. No one's been reported hurt, so stop biting your lip, Riku."

Riku sighed and clenched his teeth, wiping a little blood from where he had almost bitten through his lip.

"Great," he muttered, looking at the blood on his hand.

"Riku," Cloud said, less patience in his voice than last time, "do you really think I'd send Mizu out to do _anything_ if I didn't think she could handle it?"

"I'm sorry," Riku said again, "but I'm just so--"

"Used to her needing you protecting her?" Serenity asked.

"No," Riku protested, though only half-heartedly. "I guess I'm just not used to the idea of her being out there where she could get hurt. Kairi'd bite my head off if she got into trouble and I wasn't there to protect her."

"No offence, Riku," Cloud said, "but she doesn't need your protection. Not that that's ever stopped me from trying, but you have to let her go do what she thinks she has to or she'll fret herself to death."

"She used to say that her amnesia was driving her insane, because she knew that she was needed somewhere and she was needed _right now_, but she could never remember why."

"She has a very strong sense of duty," Cloud pointed out. "She'll do what she thinks is right without barely pausing to think about it, no matter what it takes." Cloud paused, but Riku didn't think he was done, and so kept his mouth shut while Cloud searched for the words for his next statement. "If she thought she had to... she'd sacrifice all of us for the greater good. It would tear her up inside, but she'd do it. I don't know how many times I've had to stop her from throwing her own life away, either."

Riku turned away and contemplated the wall for a long moment mulling over what Cloud had said in his mind. Riku had noticed something similar back on the islands, but it had never even hinted at the kind of behavior Cloud had just mentioned. She was stubborn, and always put others before herself, but she had never, ever disregarded others in what she did.

"I think she might have changed a little," Riku said after a moment. "After all, it's been nine years since you'd seen her last. She could have changed."

"It's possible," Cloud admitted. "I honestly haven't been with her long enough to know for sure. But I remember what she was like."

"Okay, this talk is getting depressing!" Serenity said, startling Riku and Cloud. "Let's talk about something else!"

"No, I think I'll go up to my room," Riku said, getting to his feet. "At least there I can worry in peace."

"Isn't that an oxymoron?" he heard Serenity ask Cloud, and caught the older man shrugging out of the corner of his eye. When Riku had locked the door behind him, remembering some advice Mizu and Cloud had given him, he flopped down on his bed with a sigh and closed his eyes. Before long, he was asleep.

* * *

The inn door opened again several hours later, and Mizu, soaking wet and covered in mud, walked in. She looked drained, and sat next to Cloud almost dejectedly with a loud sigh.

"No luck there, either," she announced, pushing her mud-sodden hair out of her face. "No one had heard a thing about Kairi. But there were some rumors about a blue man in a black toga, with pointed yellow teeth and hair that looked like blue fire. Sound familiar?"

"Hades," Cloud snarled. "So he didn't go slithering back after all. Looks like we should have left while we had the chance."

"Yeah, maybe," Mizu conceded, then lifted her head up and looked around. "Where's Riku?"

"He went off to your room a couple hours ago," Serenity said. "Why?"

"Some of the rumors had Hades hanging around here at about that time," Mizu said dismissively, putting her head back in her hands, then jerking upright. "Fuck!" She swung her legs over the bench and was already halfway up the stairs before Cloud and Serenity understood what she had said, but when it hit them, they caught up to her fairly quickly. Mizu tried to open the door, but it was bolted shut.

"Fuck, Riku, what a time to start taking my advice," she growled, trying the door again. She ran in to Cloud and Serenity's room, threw open the window, and climbed out, slipping onto the outer sill with practiced ease. She noticed, to her horror, that the window to her and Riku's room was open, and leapt up to grab the lip of the roof. She planted her feet on the wall and began half walking, half climbing her way over to the open window, then swinging herself in, landing cat-like between the beds with both knives drawn.

Her abrupt entry caught the creature waiting for her by surprise, but not for long. It lunged at her a brief second after she recognized it as an enemy, but that was a second too long. Halfway through it's leap, there was a flash of steel as her knife burried itself to the hilt in the creature's stomach. It went down in a heap, clawing at the dagger, and Mizu kicked it in the head, snapping it's neck. The creature died almost instantly from the kick, and began disintegrating.

"Mizu!" Cloud called, having heard the _snap_ of breaking bones and worrying about her. She ran to the door and threw the bolt back, opening it for him. He was about to say something, but the look on her face stopped him cold.

"I warned him," she growled, her green eyes seething with anger. "He is going to pay."

* * *

A/N: XD Hades is in _**trouble**_! Don't piss off Mizu, she has a bad habit of, um... Let's just say, I hope Hades wasn't planning on reproducing...


	9. Strange Visions

A/N: Okay, I've just had one of my biggest fears alleviated: Mizu is not a Mary Sue! Thank God, though, that's what I was most scared of with these things. And another thing, I got KH2 the day after it got released here in the U.S.A., but I've only played for three hours (meaning I just now got Sora back, sorry for the slight spoiler). My brother, on the other hand, little shit that he is, claims to have almost beaten the game (I wasn't home for a couple hours today so I could meet my best friend's boyfriend, so I don't know). I only know that he's been playing for over twenty hours and says he's beaten every member of the Organization (spoiler again, sorry!), but there's a world he hasn't been to yet, so I don't see how he could have possibly gotten to the final battle, and there are some old foes he has yet to vanquish, and a whole bunch of other crap, I think. Like I said, I wasn't home for a few hours. Anyway, I was going to change this chapter after watching my brother pass through a certain scene (he's been letting me watch while he plays, and I keep forgetting to demand the controler every time he knocks Sora for a loop, so I'm doomed to watch him beat this game before me), but I decided against it, just for plot reasons. Anyway, this is one of my favorite chapters, just because, well, we get to see Riku being vulnerable-ish and a little bit of Mizu's past and you can so tell I'm making this up, but I'll clarify everything for those of you who've played KH2 and know all the misinformation in this chappie. Anyway, read it, enjoy it, review it, and if you know better than what's happening here, please remember that I am aware of the inconsistencies and will do my best to rectify the situation in a later fic dealing with KH2. :)

* * *

Riku watched Sora defeat the vizier, Jafar, and his lip curled slightly in contempt. 

"That smarmy vizier could've had 'em," Hades said, subconciously clenching his fist in anger, "if someone had stuck around to give him a hand."

"Hey," Riku snapped, "I did my part. I brought the princess, didn't I?" Hades opened his mouth to argue, but Maleficent spoke before the words could get past his overly-pointy teeth.

"Jafar was beyond help," she said, "consumed by his own hatred. One should beware of letting it burn too fiercely."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, lighten up," Hades said hastily. "I'm as cool as they come, okay?" He then turned to Riku with a conspiratorial wink. "By the way, kid, have we got something special for you."

"Huh?" Riku asked, having not been paying much attention to the pair.

"We had a deal, yes?" Maleficent asked sweetly. "You help us, and we grant you your wish..."

She gestured to the table, where the image of Sora had been replaced by one of Kairi, laying unconcious on her back in a room Riku didn't recognize.

"Kairi!" Riku exclaimed, moving to touch her before he remembered that it was just a hologram.

"Go to her," Maleficent urged, "your vessel is waiting."

"Just remember," Captain Hook snarled from the doorway, "this is no pleasure cruise. It won't be a pleasant voyage."

"Why are you doing all this for me?" Riku asked, suspicion dripping from every word. "What's the catch?"

"Catch?" Maleficent asked incredulously. "What's the catch? Silly boy. You're like a son to me. I only want you to be happy." She gently placed a hand on his cheek, but he slapped it away angrily.

"I seriously doubt that," he snarled.

"Believe what you wish," Maleficent said noncommitally, a slight smirk on her face. "But lest we forget, I kept my end of the bargain."

Riku turned on his heel and left, not even bothering to dignify that last statement with a response. He walked swiftly to his room, a room Maleficent had given him after he had first met her. He had trusted her back then, but ever since he had come back from Traverse Town, he had grown more and more suspicious of her and her cohorts.

He liked his room, though. For some strange reason, it reminded him of Mizu, and of home. Halfway there, however, he took a detour and headed towards the Library, deciding to continue on some research he had been conducting. He grabbed a book he had marked off of the shelf by the door, and headed towards a table and chair near a large picture window, situated comfortably in a large nook beneath a set of stairs leading to the upper level of the Library. When he rounded the last bookcase, however, he saw something that made him stop in his tracks.

Sitting in the chair was Cloud Strife. However, he looked younger than Riku remembered him, though how much younger Riku couldn't guess. He was leaning over an open book, head in one hand and scanning the pages, a frown-line creasing his brow as he concentrated on the passage. His hair and eyes reflected the blood-red rays of the setting sun, but he wasn't paying any attention to the sunset.

"Cloud?" Riku called, taking a step closer. He didn't know why he expected Cloud to recognize him, or even reply, but was kind of hurt anyway when Cloud ignored him. Riku opened his mouth to call him again when a young girl spoke from behind him.

"_Aniki_!" the voice said, and Cloud looked up, smiling when he noticed who had spoken. He pushed back in the chair a little as a small, blonde-haired tempest ran across the room and threw herself into his outstretched arms. He scooped the little girl up into his lap, and Riku saw intense green eyes in a too-thin face that he knew there was no way he could recognize. Then it hit him: he was watching a scene that had happened in this room over nine years ago.

"What's up, Mi-chan?" Cloud asked, settling the little girl comfortably in his lap. She snuggled back against his chest, looking as content as a cat.

"I just came up here to watch the sunset," Mizu admitted, looking out the window. "This room has the best view of the town."

"Huh," Cloud said, also looking out the window. "I didn't notice how late it was."

"What're you looking at, anyway?" Mizu asked, squirming around a little to get a better look at the book Cloud had been reading. "Wow, that's old. I almost can't read it."

"Yeah, I'm having a hard time making it out, too," Cloud admitted. "Besides, I don't think you'd recognize this language. It's written in Ancient, Munchkin. I'm trying to translate it, but it's not going so well."

"Shouldn't Aerith be translating, then?" Mizu asked innocently, looking up into Cloud's eyes.

"Aerith has enough on her hands working on more complicated translations, Mizu," said a man coming in from the side, carrying a two hot cups of tea. He had long silver hair, tan skin, and golden eyes, and his smile was easy, if a little tired. He handed one of the cups to Cloud, who accepted it with a slight smile and "Thanks."

"Hi, Ansem. More research on the Heartless?" Mizu asked. Riku's eyes nearly popped out of his head. With that look on her face, he could easlily believe that this six-year-old was the same girl he had fallen in love with a little over a year ago.

"I know you don't like it, little one," Ansem said with a reassuring smile and gently placing his now-free hand on her head, "but--"

"It's necessary, I know," Mizu sighed. "By the way, I have your notes organized. You have really messy handwriting."

"I get excited sometimes," Ansem admitted with a laugh. "You have to admit, these creatures are fascinating."

"I still think we should exterminate the lot of 'em," Mizu grumbled, sounding much like the six-year-old she was, but Riku could tell by the look in her eyes that she was serious.

"I know," Ansem said, taking her very seriously. "But if we can learn something from them _before_ we destroy them..."

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before."

"I agree with Mizu, though," Cloud said, looking out the window again. "We should destroy them now before they cause major damage."

"Just a few more weeks, I promise," Ansem said reassuringly. "Then you can exterminate them. Until then, though, I suggest you get some rest, Cloud, before your eyes start to fail. Good night, you two. Sleep well."

"Night, Ansem," Mizu said, and he bent down so she could give him a hug before he left. Cloud shut the volume he had been working on and stood, picking up Mizu in the process.

"Off to bed with you, squirt," he said, hoisting her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Hey, put me down!" Mizu protested, and the scene faded as they left. Riku shook his head to clear it of the vision, or whatever it was, and took the seat Cloud had vacated. He opened the book to where he had marked it, but he found that he couldn't concentrate on the text. He kept running that scene over and over in his mind. He sighed, closed the book, and stored it back where he got it, then left the Library and headed back to his room.

When he got there, he turned on the lamp by the bed and stripped down to his waist, then grabbed his sword, not having a practice blade to use, and turned around to begin a warm-up exercise, but what he saw stopped him cold again. Right in front of him was Mizu, again as a six-year-old, her twin daggers flashing in the moonlight streaming in through the window. Even at six, she was graceful and slender, moving through attack patterns, parries, and blocks easily and fluidly, almost making the entire ritual a dance. Sweat poured down her neck and back, even condensed on her arms, but she still moved through the exercise as though she were entirely fresh. Riku guessed that in the vision, she had already been at it for several hours. After a few minutes, though, the dance of blades slowed, and eventually Mizu slipped the daggers back into the sheaths belted to her hips. She then began stretching, showing incredible flexibility, and also cooling down from the more strenuous exercise.

After her sweat had dried, and long after Riku expected the vision to end, she pulled out two coins from her pocket and sent them tumbling across the backs of her knuckles, barely even paying attention to them as she walked over to the window. Riku remembered her doing something similar with flat, round stones back on the islands, and still wondered the significance behind practicing that move. She leaned against the window sill, a pose that would have had any other child looking like they were trying to appear grown up, but with her, it seemed totally natural. She looked out at the stars, moonlight reflecting off her light skin and gold hair, and flashing from the coins still dancing across her knuckles.

Riku blinked, and the vision was gone._What's going on here?_ he wondered, moving to the exact center of the room, which was also the same spot Mizu had been standing in_. I've never had these visions before. Huh. I wonder if I'm not just tired? _He began a practice routine he had done every night back home on the islands, a set of moves so familiar to him he didn't even have to think about them anymore, and let his mind drift as his muscles shifted through the patterns of the dance as fluidly and easily as the vision of the young Mizu had with her own blades.


	10. Dreams

A/N: Just so you know, I had a lot of fun with this chapter. XD I guess it's mostly just fluff or whatever, but I like it anyway and it's kind of interesting to read. You get to learn a little more about Mizu and marvel at the OOCness of Riku. Enjoy, and review, please!

* * *

Riku lay flat on his back, one arm thrown over his eyes in an attempt to block out what little light there was in the room and get some sleep. He was having problems with this, however, as he was feeling slightly sick to his stomach with some intense emotion he couldn't name. He took several deep breaths, but they didn't help any. After a while, though, he realised that the emotion was worry, even though he had nothing to be concerned about at the moment. He knew where Kairi was, he would go to her in just a few short hours. Sora and Kage were alright, as well, so he had no reason to worry about them. 

Why did the name Kage sound wrong? He had always called her that, ever since Tidus and Wakka had given her that name while he was helping her regain the strength to walk. He had given her the nickname "Mizu," but that should have been the name that struck him as off-key, not the one he knew her best as. However, something about the name Mizu just seemed right when applied to her, like it was actually her name or something.

"This is rediculous," he muttered, rolling over and burrying his face in his pillow. "She doesn't even remember her name," he continued, though the words were muffled by the pillow. But that simple statement seemed wrong as well. He lifted his head up slightly and let it fall back down, landing with a soft _thump_ on the pillow, and he groaned. "What's happening to me?"

Riku propped himself up on one hand and repeatedly punched the bed in frustration. After the faint depression his fist left behind became somewhat permanent, he let himself fall back on his stomach with a resigned groan.

"This can _not_ be happening," he insisted into his pillow, but he couldn't explain why he kept talking out loud. "Am I going insane? First those visions, now this... What's going on?"

"Problem, _koishii_?" asked a voice that was painfully familiar, and even more painfully missed. Riku rolled over onto his back and sat up, staring incredulously at the girl sitting on the edge of his bed, one hand laying gently on his arm.

"Mizu!" he exclaimed, and moved to hug her, but to his dismay, he passed right through her. "What...? What's going on?"

"I'm not really here," Mizu explained. "I guess my heart was calling out to you while I was sleeping. Cloud or Serenity must have slipped something into my drink tonight. I haven't been able to sleep in days. Riku, why did you go back to them?"

"You didn't want me to come with," Riku explained, completelly perplexed by the question. Mizu raised an eyebrow and cocked her head curiously to one side. "Back in Traverse Town," Riku elaborated, "you told me you'd rather go with Cloud to find Kairi than go with me."

"Riku," Mizu said patiently, though her eyes betrayed her distress, "all I said was that I didn't trust Maleficent. But what does what we said in Traverse Town have to do with anything? Were you thinking of that the whole time you were with Cloud and me?"

"What?" Riku asked, stunned. "I didn't go with you and Cloud! You went with him and I met up with Maleficent."

"No, Riku, you came with us," Mizu said, urgency and fear making her voice reach a higher note than it usually did. "Oh, no..." A look of stunned disbelief crossed her face, and she stood up and began pacing, apparently lost in thought. "I was afraid this might happen. But I never expected that witch to stoop so low... Crap, I don't know what to do in situations like this!"

"Mizu, what--?"

"She altered your memories!" Mizu said, turning around almost angrilly. "I can't believe her! I knew she was spiteful and vindictive, but I _never_ thought she'd pull a stunt like this!" Mizu sat heavily on the bed next to Riku and placed her corporeal hands over his. "Riku, whatever memories you have of what happened in Traverse Town are fabrications. They're not _real_, Riku! I'll admit I said I didn't trust Maleficent, and you argued that you didn't trust Cloud, but Cloud came looking for me--he was ready to leave so we could look for you and Kairi--and I convinced you to meet him. So you did, you glared daggers at each other, but you both agreed to give each other a chance to prove your trustworthiness, and we left! Cloud and I together showed you outer space, taught you some of the fundamentals of piloting a Gummi ship, and we landed on another world together! There, I tought you how to track in a forest, even move through it silently and easily, and within a day we got to a town about a mile into the forest, where we met with a friend of Cloud's, Serenity. We were asking around in the market if anyone had seen or heard of Kairi, and ran into Hades. When we'd sent him packing, we went back to the inn and went to bed. The next day, I went out on my own to see what I couldn't learn from the thieves and beggars, and when I came back, you were gone! There was a Heartless in our room, and I know it was Hades who took you."

"I don't remember any of this," Riku protested.

"That's because Maleficent altered your memories! Don't you get it?" Mizu's eyes were wet with tears she was doing a valiant job of holding back, but her voice began to tremble and Riku could sense the desperation and pain behind her words. And worse, he felt the fear as well. "She toyed with your mind so you'd believe I'd abandoned you or something, so you'd believe that she was the only way to get Kairi back!"

"But she is," Riku protested again. "Well, maybe she's not the only way, but she already has Kairi. I'm going with Captain Hook to get her tomorrow. I know where she is, I'll get her and bring her back, and we can all go home safe and sound! It's alright--"

"It's not alright!" Mizu exclaimed, jumping to her feet again. Her tears finally broke free and spilled down her cheeks. "Don't you get it? She's toying with you, she's making you believe things that aren't true! Maybe she had found Kairi, maybe she will help you get her back, but at what price? What does she want you to do in return for helping you?"

"She's looking for the Princesses of Heart," Riku said noncomitally, shrugging. "She wouldn't tell me why, but--"

"She's **_WHAT?_**" Riku winced at her volume and subconciously began rubbing his ringing ears. "That complete, imbicilic, self-centered, egotistical, ignorant, arrogant little _BITCH_! And you're _helping_ her with this?"

"What?" Riku asked, honestly perplexed. "I don't see what harm it could do. I mean, yeah, it is a little odd getting seven girls together in one place, but it's not like it's my problem what she does with them."

"Oh, it had damn well _better_ be your problem!" Mizu said, now quite obviously enraged. "She's going to open the Door To Darkness. That bitch, she wants Kingdom Hearts!" Mizu moved as if to storm through the door and hunt down Maleficent, but stopped and sighed in exasperation. "And I can't do shit about it like this!"

"Settle down," Riku said, trying to sound soothing but coming across as more annoyed than anything.

"I will _not_ settle down!" Mizu almost screamed. "You have no idea what this means, do you?"

"Door To Darkness?" Riku asked. "It sounds harmless enough. What's so scary about a door?"

"It's not just any door, it's the Door To Darkness. She's going to unleash darkness on the worlds and use it to conquer them so she can be supreme ruler. She's been planning _that_ for who knows how long! This is so not good..."

"What?" Riku asked, still not understanding what she was so upset about. He could feel how scared she was, and he frankly had to wonder why she wasn't huddling in a corner screaming. Mizu sat down and put her face in her hands, and took a deep breath, managing to calm down a little, though she was still almost quaking with fear.

"Maleficent is using the Heartless to conquer worlds," Mizu explained, her voice shaking as much as her body should have been. "The Heartless feed on the darkness in people's hearts, eventually making a person into another Heartless. Maleficent can, to an extent, control the Heartless, but she wants total control, of everyone and everything in all of the worlds. She uses the Heartless to subdue the inhabitants of each world, and sometimes, she even allows the Heartless to kill by stealing people's hearts. If she opens the Door To Darkness, she will be able to completelly control the Heartless, and easily gain control of the worlds, exactly like she wants. She wants darkness to reign supreme, without even a speck of light." Mizu lifted her head from her hands, and folded those beneath her chin, staring off at the room, but not really seeing it, and tears openly pouring down her face as the only sign of her fear she would let show.

"I lost my home to that cause," Mizu whispered after a while. "And I thought I'd lost my family. She attacked my home nine years ago, and now she's using it as her stronghold, apparently. This room used to be mine. Cloud and I used to watch the sunsets in the Library, and Aerith would read me books sometimes if I couldn't read them for myself. Yuffie and I would explore from room to room, trying to find hidden niches and other rooms that we'd never seen before. And Squall and I used to spar in the courtyard, or he'd take me into town to see what new stuff was in the market. And Cid would tell me all about outer space, showing me the constelations at night and how to read the stars. When we weren't spending time with each other, we were helping Ansem with his research. I had the neatest handwriting of all of them, so Ansem had me organize his notes so they could actually be read. This place holds so many good memories for me. You have no idea how much it hurts, seeing this place in her hands. I almost don't recognize it..."

"I think I have some idea," Riku said softly, moving to put his arm around her shoulders, but he remembered that he couldn't touch her, and so put his arm back down. "I don't know why, but I can feel everything that you do. It's just a little fainter than what I'm feeling."

Mizu's hand moved up to touch her shoulder, where Riku's hand would have been had he managed to put his arm around her, and she appeared startled when she touched her own arm.

"I can feel you, too," she whispered. "Like a second heart, beating in my chest in perfect harmony with mine. It's almost enough, but... I want to be with you again. I want to be able to touch you, hold your hand in mine, feel your arms around me and not be able to pull away. Without you there beside me, it's almost like I'm empty inside. I know I have my duties, I know I have to stop Maleficent and whatever it is she's planning, but it all seems so pointless to me now. What matters most to me is that you're safe, or at least with me if you absolutelly have to be in danger."

She looked over to the window, and slowly got to her feet, then turned around and smiled sadly at Riku.

"I should probably go. You need to get some rest, and I'm just keeping you up." She bent down and placed her hands on either side of Riku's face, closed her eyes, and kissed him on the lips. He couldn't feel the kiss physically, but he still felt it in his heart, where it mattered most.

"Sleep well, my love."

With that, Mizu faded away, leaving Riku with nothing more than the faint impression that she had been there, and the lingering feel of her lips on his as proof that she had been there at all. And, amazingly enough, he did manage to get some sleep. However, in the morning, neither would even remember what had happened that night.


	11. Whisper

A/N: I'm trying a new tactic with this chapter. Squee. For dream sequences (not the visions Riku had in the last few chappies, but actual dreams), I'm going to be writing in first person, mostly because I need to work on that, it's one of my many weak spots... So, yeah, please tell me how I did with the dream, and I'm sorry if I fXXXed up the song lyrics a little. BTW, this song is "Whisper" by Evanescence, which is also why I called the chapter "Whisper," and the fic "Whisper," and, and, and yeah. I also need to work on adding in songs, and this one just happens to be perfect for dream sequences. :) I've actually been planning this chapter since I first heard Whisper, which was perhaps a few years ago, whish was about the same time I got KH. Has it really been that long since I got Kingdom Hearts...? I got it on Christmas, '03, so... Wait, it's '06? HOLY FXXX I GRADUATE THIS YEAR! XD Wow, time flies when you're panting after Riku! XD Okay, none of you needed that mental image. Anyway, please, please, please, please, PLEASE tell me how I did with the dream, I really want to know and I need all the hints, tips, suggestions, complaints, threats, etc. I can get!

* * *

_Catch me as I fall  
Say you're here and it's all over now  
Speaking to the atmosphere  
No one's here and I fall into myself  
This truth drives me into madness  
I can stop the pain if I will it all away_

The song was a lie. The pain wouldn't stop. My heart burned, ached, felt much like it had been mercilessly ripped from my chest by Ifrit's claws, wrung out like a rag, then thrown back in upside down and backwards. Maleficent was using my love, the only one who had any claims to my heart anymore, to spread darkness throughout the worlds. And no one was there to stop my endless descent. No one to alleviate the pain, to banish the loneliness.

No one to hear my screams.

I threw my arms up over my face to protect it as I plummeted through my own reflection, shards of the crystalline mirror slicing through my very soul, leaving a ragged and bloody mess in their wake.

I opened her eyes--or did I shut them?--only to see an image of him, looking at me with no recognition in his eyes, and turning his back on me. I ran to him, screaming his name, but he didn't hear me, or even notice the stark terror in my voice.

Don't turn away  
Don't give in to the pain  
Don't try to hide  
Though they're screaming your name  
Don't close your eyes  
God knows what lies behind them  
Don't turn out the light  
Never sleep never die

How could he just shut me out like that? And was he also shutting me out of his heart, just as he was shutting out the light? What had happened to him that he didn't want me anymore?

My heart lurched again, and I doubled over in pain as every nerve burned white-hot, as my heart was again ripped from my already bloody chest. I couldn't even find the breath to scream this time. All that escaped my lips was a wimper, not of pain or of fear, but of loneliness.

I'm frightened by what I see  
But somehow I know that there's much more to come  
Immobilized by my fears  
And soon to be blinded by tears  
I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away

If I will it all away...

I looked up, only to see him again, as bloody and ripped apart as I was, though he did not appear to feel any pain. I tried to call out, even reached a hand out to him, but the sight of my own mangled arm almost made me vomit. I was no stranger to blood, had even spilled guts all over the pavement on several occasions using nothing more than my knife. It was the rotting, putrid flesh hanging off of my bones that made me want to puke.

I stared in horror at my hand as more of the flesh rotted away, and looked up to see his flesh rotting as well. The vision blurred, but soon cleared a little as tears poured down my face. I could barely make out that he was crying as well, tears turning to twin streaks of blood as they spilled from his eyes and down his cheeks to drip from his chin. He mouthed the words "I'm sorry," and turned away.

Don't turn away  
Don't give in to the pain  
Don't try to hide  
Though they're screaming your name  
Don't close your eyes  
God knows what lies behind them  
Don't turn out the light  
Never sleep never die

I tried to call out to him again, felt my vocal cords nearly vibrating apart with the intensity and desperation of my yell, but there was no sound. One hand still clutching my bloody and mangled chest, I stumbled after him, tripping over what I soon came to realize were the bodies of my friends, the only family I had ever known.

I looked down into Sora's lifeless eyes, and saw beneath his body the broken remnants of wings; wings that had once been a radient shade of white, but were now stained crimson with Sora's freshly spilled blood. His heart had been ripped from his chest as well. Next to him was Kairi, in a similar state. Beyond them, I saw Cloud, Aerith, Vincent, Yuffie, Nanaki, Squall, Cid, Serenity; every friend I had ever made, even friends I hadn't met yet, were all spread before me on a scarred and pitted battlefield, where the only bodies were those of my friends, their blood slowly soaking into soil that had already absorbed too much. I fell to my knees, and let my bloody tears fall freely, pooling on Sora's dead eyes and running down his cheeks as well, a grim mockery of my own pain.

A putrid breeze blew, murmering words in my ear. I couldn't make them out, but I knew what they were. Words of death, and pain, and suffering; words of war, and my own hellish past.

Fallen angels at my feet  
Whispered voices at my ear  
Death before my eyes  
Lying next to me I fear  
She beckons me shall I give in  
Upon my end shall I begin  
Forsaking all I've fallen for I rise to meet the end.

Only one thought entered my mind: I've let them all die in vain.

I stood, laboriously climbing to my feet, fighting back waves of nausea at every sharp jab of pain that came with every inch I gained. I looked ahead, to Maleficent's laughing face, the witch's arm draped almost lovingly across Riku's shoulders. Riku showed no emotion at all, merely stared blankly into the blood-sodden distance, his own blood still pouring freely from his wounds, and the gaping hole in his chest. Maleficent gestured, and Riku turned to look, his expressionless eyes locking right on mine, as I struggled the rest of the way to my feet.

Riku pulled out a Keyblade, a Keyblade so obviously forged of darkness that I almost wept. But, stubbornly, I pulled out a sword of my own, a twisted, black, evil thing wrought of my own betrayal to my friends and ideals. Riku charged at me, and I easily parried his blade, but he swung back around, having ran almost right past me. I turned to meet him, and lunged, intending to take him down with one swing while his guard was dropped.

I stopped when his Keyblade penetrated my stomach.

My blood sprayed all over him, over his face, and he barely even blinked. He twisted the Keyblade, still with that blank, expressionless stare, and more blood spurted from my wound. I dropped the sword, and clutched his blade, more blood spilling from my lips as I coughed, attempting to inhale past the blood pooling in my mouth, bubbling up from the wound in my belly. Hot tears poured down my cheeks, tracing lines of fire on my skin, and I collapsed into Riku's arms. He gently laid me on the ground.

I felt myself sinking, watched as waves of blood-darkened water closed over me, watched as Riku's face drifted further and further away. Listened to Maleficent's laughter ringing in my ears... Riku stood, watching me slowly sink further and further into a lake of blood, then held his arms out wide, as though to embrace something, and fell forward into the blood after me, sinking with me. He wrapped his arms around me, and we sank together.

Servatis a pereculum.  
Servatis a maleficum

* * *

Cloud nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard something splash over the floor. His eyes snapped open and his hand reached for the hilt of his sword before he realized what he had heard. He looked over to the bed, and saw Mizu bending over the edge, holding her loose hair away from her face as she vomited all over the floor again. Cloud was too stunned to react at first, having never seen Mizu in this state before. She was as pale as the sheets, her hands shook violently, and her arm barely seemed capable of holding her up as her stomach emptied itself of what must have been last Tuesday's lunch.

Before Cloud could recover from his shock, Serenity was on the bed beside Mizu, one arm around the girl's shoulders as she offered her comfort, heedless of the expanding pool of puke. She lightly rubbed Mizu's back, telling her in soft, soothing, mother-like tones to get it all out. One more expulsion, and Mizu was done, and wiped the back of her hand across her mouth.

"Are you alright?" Serenity asked soothingly.

"What happened?" Cloud demanded a little more urgently at about the same time. Serenity opened her mouth to snap at him, but Mizu shook her head, and looked Cloud dead in the eyes, though she still wore that utterly terrified expression, and that only served to frighten Cloud even more.

"It was just a nightmare," Mizu whispered. "That's all. It was nothing more than a nightmare. Please, God, let it only have been a nightmare!" The last was said in an almost strangled voice, and Mizu drew her knees up to her chest, clutched her head in her hands, and pressed her forehead to her knees. Her shoulders shook violently with her sobs, and Cloud, purely on instinct, went and wrapped his arms around her, making soft shushing noises and gently rocking back and forth, gently stroking her hair in a subconscious gesture intended to help calm her down. He looked at Serenity, almost helplessly. He'd never seen Mizu this vulnerable before, and it hurt him more than he would care to admit.

After a moment, Serenity went and got a bucket and a mop from the innkeeper, and began cleaning up the puddle of bile on the floor. Cloud just did the only thing he could do in this situation: he held Mizu in his arms, held her to his chest as her tears slowly ebbed and her shaking lessened.

"Cloud?" Mizu said tentatively after a moment.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking down at her, into her frighteningly vulnerable face.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, starring blankly off into the room. She was curled in an almost fetal position, still with her head on Cloud's chest, and her hands were curled into fists.

"Shh, don't be. It was just a bad dream, that's all."

"I hope that's all it was," Mizu admitted quietly.

"It is," Cloud assured her, though he wasn't so sure himself, and she seemed to sense his doubt. "Go back to sleep, Mizu. I'll be right here if you need me."

"Promise?"

"On my life," Cloud swore, gently kissing the top of her head. "But if I have to sing you to sleep..."

Mizu chuckled weakly at the feeble joke, and nestled down next to Cloud, her head still pillowed on his chest, and her back pressed comfortably into the crook of his arm. She closed her eyes, slowed her breathing, and relaxed every muscle individually, and was soon asleep again.

"Take your boots off," Serenity said quietly so as not to wake Mizu again, "they need to be cleaned."

Cloud did as he was told, trying not to move too much and dislodge Mizu, then swung his feet onto the bed and scooted into a more comfortable position for the both of them, still cradling her in his arms like a baby.

"What do you make of this?" Cloud asked, keeping his voice down.

"Honestly?" Serenity asked. "You know her better than I do. But, from what I know of her so far, anything to put her in that state must have been terrifying indeed. I hope that whatever it is doesn't plague her again. I'll admit, Cloud, when I saw that look on her face, I was scared, too."

"I know, so was I. I've never seen her that terrified before. I mean, I've watched her slice I don't know how many people's throats open with her own knives, and she'd barely even blink. And that was when she was six! She's never been this... vulnerable before."

"It has been nine years," Serenity reminded him.

"I know," Cloud sighed. "She seemed so much more cheerful than she used to be, too. But, I suppose, for every good change in her, there's bound to be a negative one."

"Trading stoicism for vulnerability?" Serenity asked, then shook her head. "I don't know, Cloud. I think it's deeper than that. Something happened to her, something that changed her in subtle ways."

"She has a more positive outlook on life," Cloud said absently, "she laughs more now, she's as stubborn as ever and just as dedicated to her duties, she allows herself to feel emotion... She's become more human since the last time I saw her nine years ago. When she was six, she was incredibly fatalistic, we could barely get her to crack a smile half the time, and she never, ever let on that she was feeling anything. If she was scared, we never even noticed, and we were almost always looking. The first time I ever heard her laugh just for the joy of it was when she saw her first snow. It never snowed in Midgar, but one night when we were traveling through the mountains, we stayed at this old man's hut, and it started to snow out. Red XIII persuaded her to go outside with him, and I watched from the doorway as they both let go of their dignity and played. Mizu threw a snowball at me, though, so I was compelled to join in the fun. We wore her into exhaustion that night. Tifa and Aerith were worried when we first came in, thinking we'd been attacked, but they understood that that was the first time Mizu had gotten to just let loose and be a kid in her whole life. Yuffie lamented that we didn't invite her to join in the fun, though. She looked so vulnerable, sitting in my lap that night, and so innocent. Every care she had just washed away in the face of being a child for once."

"Wow," Serenity breathed, looking at the girl comfortably nestled against Cloud's chest in a new light. She had a hard time believing that the fiery, rambunctious girl she had come to know could be anything like Cloud had just described, and yet, seeing her like that, with all her shields down and trusting fully in Cloud to protect her, it was an easy thing to imagine. This girl, so independent and stubborn, yet so vulnerable. It was hard not to love her, not to care about her even the tiniest bit. She wondered what it would be like to be in love with her, like Riku so obviously was. Just being her friend was roller-coaster enough, it must be hell to care for her any more than that! And yet, this girl was a point of stability in the lives of those she touched; dependable, brave, honest, proud, yet strangely humble at the same time. A soft chuckle escaped Serenity's lips, and Cloud looked up at her in vague surprise.

"What is it?" he asked.

"She was appropriately named," Serenity said, summing up her thoughts in a few simple words.

"Mizu," Cloud said, looking down at the girl sleeping in his arms. "Mizu Hikari. Water Light." He gently brushed a strand of her loose hair from her face, and she sighed in contentment, nestling closer.


	12. Nightmares

A/N: I regret to inform you that this is the final chapter of "Whisper." The rest of the story will be continued in whatever Kingdom Hearts fanfic I post up next. The reason for stopping already: I ran out of chapter ideas that don't involve huge time lapses. XP This is not to frustrate or annoy anyone, this is simply so that the files on my computer don't get too large with one long friggin' story. I am currently arranging/rewriting most of my previous fics into one long story in and of itself, which I am titling "Hikari," and I'll post that up as soon as I'm done with working on these. Think of "Hikari" as my version of an omnibus. You know, those 5-to-10 inch thick books you see random idiotic book-a-holics like me carrying around with three or more books in them. So, yeah, either look for "Hikari," or another KH fic by a different title. I'll tell you in the description if it's the next fic or the compilation, okay? Until then, though, please read, review, and enjoy (or don't) the last chapter of "Whisper," I had a lot of fun writing it.

* * *

Riku rolled over, fighting against his covers, though barely aware of the fact that he was moving until his head hit the floor with a loud _thump_. He managed to untangle himself from the bedsheets, propped himself up from the floor with both hands and... 

Puked his guts out.

_Wh-what the...? What was that all about?_ Riku thought, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. He looked at it, half expecting to see blood instead of bile._ That dream... Mizu had that dream... Oh, no..._ Riku tried to climb to his feet, but his legs were shaking too badly to support him, and he fell flat on his rump. There was a light knock on the door, and Riku almost jumped out of his skin.

"Wh-who is it?" he called, barely even noticing that he had stuttered, or how frightened he sounded. Right now, he was more concerned with why Mizu would have had a dream like that. The door opened, and a man with long silver hair, tan skin, and golden eyes walked in, shutting the door quietly behind him. He looked over at Riku, and seemed mildly surprised to see him sitting next to a puddle of barf, hair tousled all over the place and hopelessly tangled in his blankets.

"Oh, Ansem!" Riku exclaimed, quickly getting to his feet and clutching the covers tighter around him. "I, uh, I didn't expect you to be here this late."

"Late?" Ansem asked, raising an eyebrow and looking over to the window, where sunlight was flooding into the room. "It's just past dawn, Riku."

Riku sat on the edge of the bed, looking out the window too, and sighed, running his hands through his tangled hair in a hopeless attempt to straighten it. For some reason, being around this man always made him overly concious of his appearance. And, unfortunatelly, Riku slept in the nude (A/N: Wonderful mental image, is it not? That, and I can't picture Riku in any sort of pajamas except maybe boxers... ;P), so at the moment he was even more uncomfortable than usual. Ansem looked back at the stinking puddle on the floor, and raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"J-just a nightmare," Riku explained hastilly, then immediatelly felt stupid for saying it. Only children threw up after bad dreams, and Riku was no child.

"I see," was all Ansem said concerining the puke. "Are you alright?"

"F-fine," Riku said, even though he was obviously out of breath and sweating, his head hurt where he had hit it, and he still felt sick to his stomach at the thought of the dream. An image of the rotting flesh of Mizu's hand danced before his eyes again, and he had to take several deep breaths to keep the bile down.

"Indeed. Well, if you are ready, Captain Hook is waiting for you."

"R-right..."

Ansem turned to leave, and Riku sighed, allowing his head to sink into his hands, pressing his palms against his eyes. To his dismay, Riku heard Ansem's soft footsteps as the man approached him, even felt Ansem sit next to him on the bed.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Ansem asked, gently rubbing Riku's back. Riku sighed, and relaxed, something that was strangely easy to do in this man's presence.

"Not really," he admitted, dropping his hands between his knees. He closed his eyes and sighed again as Ansem began rubbing his shoulders.

"You're too tense," Ansem admonished after a moment. "You're going to wear yourself into nothing if you continue at this pace."

Riku opened his eyes a little.

"I don't have much choice. Kairi might not have time for me to relax. She means so much to me, I can't let her down just because I need a break."

"She would understand, I'm sure. A true friend would not want you to sacrifice yourself for her."

"But a true friend would sacrifice himself anyway. Sorry, Ansem, but I'm a true friend to her. I'd give my life to save her, or Sora, or Mizu. Especially Mizu..."

"She means that much to you?" Ansem asked, stopping the massage he had been giving Riku. Riku looked up into his golden eyes.

"More than anything," Riku admitted. "Don't you have someone you care about like that? Someone you would do absolutelly anything for, even if it meant giving up your own life?"

"I do not," Ansem said. "But I do have a question: Would Mizu do the same for you?"

"Of course she would," Riku said without hesitation.

"Really? What do you suppose she's doing right now?"

Riku closed his eyes, not really knowing why he did it, and searched his own heart, looking for that part that screamed "Mizu" at him. He smiled when he learned what was going on with her.

"She's sleeping," he admitted, still with a slight smile on his face. "She's exhausted, too. She'll probably be out like a light for a couple days."

"And in that time, she won't be doing anything for you," Ansem pointed out.

"It's not her fault she's sleeping," Riku said. "Her brother drugged her after about an hour of yelling at her to get some sleep." Riku sighed, and put his head back in his hands. "She's the reason I had the nightmare. It was hers, and she somehow dragged me into it. I don't think she meant to, but..."

"What was this nightmare?" Ansem asked. "What happened in it to give you such a violent reaction?"

"It was..." Riku said, trying to find the right words to describe it without going into any gruesome details, but with every word he spoke, the images kept coming back. "I think it was a reflection of her heart. Or maybe all of her worst fears rolled into one, I don't know... There was so much pain, and death, and..." Riku swallowed, trying not to puke again. "And there was blood everywhere. I've never seen anything so disgusting in my entire life... And I was in it. I think I caused some of it. Maleficent was there, too, laughing. She used me like a puppet, and I... I fought Mizu. She had a sword, and I had a Keyblade, but they were both twisted, evil... I slammed the Keyblade through her stomach, and she... She died in my arms. Only, since this was Mizu's dream, it was more like I was killing her _and_ myself. I laid her out on the ground with the others--there were so many of them--and she sank into a pool of blood. Or, we were both sinking... Then I fell in with her, held on to her, and we continued to sink. Then I woke up, and, well..."Riku gestured helplessly at the quickly drying puddle by the bed, and shrugged.

"I can understand now why you would react that way," Ansem said. "You, who all your life have been so sheltered from the cruelties of the wider worlds, would not know how to react to such a graphic image, and so your body sought to purge itself."

"Mizu did the same thing," Riku pointed out, not really knowing how he knew, but knowing he was right in any case.

"Perhaps because she understood the implications of the dream far better than you did," Ansem reasoned. "No matter the situation, though, you both had the same violent, and perhaps necessary, reaction to the dream." Ansem stood up, placed both hands on Riku's shoulders, and amazingly pushed the boy back down into the bed. What was amazing about it was not so much the act itself, but the fact that Riku didn't protest, or struggle. Riku had a fleeting thought that he was perhaps too submissive to this man, but immediatelly dismissed it as irrational.

When Riku was laying flat on his back, Ansem displayed another rare act of kindness and drew the covers up to the boy's shoulders. This surprised Riku, as he had half expected him to do something else, though what that was he didn't know. With a wave of his hand and a muttered word, Ansem used his powers to clean up the bile. He then lightly brushed his fingers over Riku's cheek and neck, resting for a brief moment over the boy's heart, then turned to leave.

"I will tell Hook to delay the voyage," Ansem said from the doorway. "For another day, at least."

Riku's eyes snapped open, though he was unaware that he had shut them, and he started to get out of the bed.

"Kairi may not have one more day," he protested, throwing back the covers and managing to get one foot on the floor before Ansem pushed him back down.

"But you _need_ one more day," Ansem reminded him. "Rest. Replenish your strength, then go to Kairi. I'm sure she can wait long enough for that."

"I'll hold you responsible if she can't," Riku warned. Ansem merely smiled and left, leaving Riku alone with his thoughts, and memories of that horrible dream...

* * *

A/N: I am very well aware that I got Ansem OOC in this chapter. I did that on purpose. I mean, come on, how can you get _anyone's_ personality that fXXXed up without actually trying to? 


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